sub page menu

Goju Kai
Karate Do Sydney Australia

School of
Yamaguchi I.K.G.A.

Founder : PAUL STARLING
Kyoshi 7th Dan - VICE PRESIDENT IKGA

.Goju Kai Sydney Goju Kan was founded in 1970 by
World IKGA Vice President Paul Starling Shihan Kyoshi
who has remained a loyal and devoted member of Goju
Kai Karate do Australia for 46 years: he was the first
graduate in 1973 as Shihan Renshi from Gogen Yamaguchi
Sensei's prestigious Nihon Karate do Senmon Gakko, and
the only Australian Shihan to Graduate.

Paul
Starling commenced training in the Gogen Yamaguchi
school of Goju Kai Karate do as a teenager 46 years
ago in the early 1960's, with the founder of Goju
Kai in Australia; Merv Oakley Sensei. At that time
there were very few Karate Instructors qualified to
teach in Australia, and only a handful were
legitimately graded to any black belt level of
proficiency. Oakley Sensei was a pioneer of
Australian Karate, and had travelled to the Hombu
Dojo in Japan to train with Gogen Yamaguchi Hanshi
for extended periods.

Paul had trained in Judo from a very young age
with a very distinguished teacher; Sensei Ron Cox,
and for many years continued training in Judo and
Goju Kai Karate do concurrently on a daily basis He
travelled enormous distances from his home via
public transport in order to achieve his desires to
train with the very best teachers in Sydney.

After graduating from Barker College in
Waitara Sydney with his Leaving Certificate (equiv.
Higher School Certificate), he commenced a career
with Unilever Australia and also the Australian Army
CMF, due to the influence of his father. Lieutenant
Colonel Noel George Reid Starling who worked
tirelessly in order to promote Sydney Goju Kan using
his extensive marketing skills. A career Army
man, he was said to have been the longest serving
soldier in the Australian Regular Army when he
passed away in 1999. (Lieutenant Colonel Starling,
born in 1913 had added a number of years to his
birth date in order to sign on as a soldier in
approx 1926.)

Photo of Paul with his
father Lt Colonel Noel G.R. Starling

discussing his
appointment as Shidoin 1970.

It was as an Army Officer that Paul also
honed his skills at leadership and the self discipline
that helped him build Sydney Goju Kan and the
Macquarie University Karate Club into successful
traditional Japanese Dojo.

Paul went on to represent Australia at the WUKO
/World Karate Federation's very First World Karate
Do Championship in Japan in 1970,

and also again at the second World
Championship in Paris in 1972.

Paul Starling was also a founder member
of the Australian Karate Federation.

Karate Instructor of the Year
(Blitz)

Chancellor's Lifetime
Achievement Award- Macquarie University

only Australian to
graduate as Shihan (Master Teacher).

Vice President
International Karate do Goju Kai Association
IKGA since 1990

Director of
Oceania IKGA 1990- 2004

Australian Branch Chief IKGA 1989-
2004

Former New South Wales Branch Chief IKGA
1972 -2004

Paul
has
also represented Australia as an International
official at WUKO World Karate do Championships
and the Australian Karate Federation.

[photograph
courtesy
of Blitz Martial Arts Magazine]

Whilst in Japan
at the Karate do College, Paul had stayed with Gogen
Yamaguchi Hanshi in his home , and had also acted in
a secretarial capacity for the IKGA (International
Karate do Gojukai Association). In this role he had
became very closely aligned with the Yamaguchi
family in Japan, and he has since returned on many
occasions with very large groups of his students to
train with both Gogen Yamaguch Hanshi prior to his
death in 1989, and also with Goshi Yamaguchi Shihan,
Gosen Yamaguchi Shihan and also Wakako Yamaguchi
Shihan.Whilst in Japan in 1970 representing Australia at
the First World Karate do Championships, Gogen
Yamaguchi suggested the name of Sydney Goju Kan for
Paul's own Dojo, and the School has been in
operation ever since. Along with the Macquarie
University Karate Club (established 1968) The North
Sydney branch of Goju Kai Karate do , along with the
other foundation Dojo ie: in Hornsby, Asquith and
West Pymble, Sydney Goju Kai members of Paul
Starling Shihan trained with, and competed against
their Melbourne Goju Kai colleagues under the
tutelage of Constantino Tino Ceberano Shihan in the
foundation years and until 1989 when Ceberano Shihan
formed a new school apart from the Yamaguchi family.
It was at that time that Paul Starling Shihan became
the Chief Instructor of Goju Kai Karate do Australia
until retiring from that position 15 years later in
2004 due to a sudden illness.

Paul's most
senior student has been training with him for 37
years: Dr Mark Burton 6th Dan Renshi Shihan, former
Australian & New South Wales Kata Champion, is
now the New South Wales Branch Chief and Chief
Instructor for Goju Kai Karate do Australia Sydney
Goju Kan. Mark Shihan teaches classes at
Womberal,Central Coast Region, and at Macquarie
University. Please see the profiles /Instructors
section for more information regarding Mark Shihan's
many accomplishments. Mark is assisted by
Sensei David Harrison Jokyo 4th Dan, current Heavy
Weight Jiu Kumite Medalist at the IKGA World
Championship 2005-Holland. David Harrison is a long
time student over the past 25 years and is now
President & Chief Instructor of the Macquarie
University Karate Club Dojo having assisted and
followed on from Paul Starling Shihan since
2004 . Paul now
refines techniques of Shihan Instructors and
Black Belts in 'Special Advanced Classes' at the
Macquarie University Dojo.

Amongst Paul's other numerous
achievements are voluntary positions over many
years:

he was a former NSW State Coach for the
New South Wales Karate Federation,

State of New South Wales "A" Level
Referee Australian Karate Federstion

a former "A" Level National
Australian Referee for the Australian Karate
Federation,

a former National Secretary for the AKF
(FAKO),

represented Australia as a
Referee/Judge at the WKF(WUKO)World Karate
Championships in Taiwan in 1982, where his
wife and student (Sandie)Alexandra Starling
Shihan became the very first Australian AKF
representative to win a medal when she won 3rd
place bronze in the Female Kata event.

He was a lecturer on the very 1st Level
One Coaching Course run by the AKF for the
National Coaching Accreditation Scheme,

and was on the committee that designed
the original Level Two Coaching Scheme for the
AKF.

National Australian University Sports
Coordinator for Karate do.

Organizing Committe WKF World Karate do
Championships 1986 Sydney.

Whilst
at
the JAPAN KARATE DO COLLEGE (NIHON KARATE DO
SENMON GAKKO) where Paul trained full time for one
year in 1973, he was taught by Grandmaster Gogen
Yamaguchi (Goju Kai), Grandmaster Hironori Otsuka
(Wado Ryu), Grandmaster Iwata Manzao (Shito Ryu),
Grandmaster Tamae (Rembukan), and Grandmaster
Motokatsu (Gansho) Inoue (Ryukyu Kobujitsu Hozon
Shinko Kai). Also trained by Goshi Yamaguchi Saiko
Shihan, and several other Japanese Shihans of the
time.Paul
played
a
pivotal role in the 1983 Classic Australian Movie
'The Coolangatta Gold' as a Karate Instructor,
accompanied by several of his black belt students
who played the part of the Karate class. Paul was
approached by the film's director and writer (Igor
Auzons and Peter Schreck) in 1982 and asked to
train a leading actor, Joss McWilliam, in Karate
methods full time over a period of 3 months in
order for the actor to fulfill his role in the
film. Joss trained diligently as a beginner
on a daily basis with Paul and the senior
instructors of the Dojo. His character in the film
was a Black Belt Shodan however in reality Joss
was actually a white Belt in Karate. See
this
link
for
further details:

Many
International,
National,
and State champions have come from Paul Starling's
Dojo. Many of his students have gone on to become
Internationally recognized instructors in their
own right. Amongst Paul's Black Belt Graduates who
have gone on to become Shihans are Ingo De Jong
8th Dan Hanshi (IKGA Vice President, Director of
the European Bloc, Branch Chief for Scandinavia),
Helmut Moldners 5th Dan Renshi (former NSW North
Coast Branch Chief), Dr. Mark Burton 6th Dan
Renshi (NSW Branch Chief and Chief Instructor) and
Alexandra (Sandie) Starling 5th Dan Renshi (former
WKF World Championship medalist).Current
IKGA
Qualifications
- Paul was awarded KYOSHI License in 1989 by Saiko
Shihan Yamaguchi, 7th Dan in 1995 in Tokyo Japan,
and was also graded to 5th Dan in the Ryukyu
Kobujitsu Hozon Shinko Kai in 1988 by Grandmaster
Motokatsu (Gansho) Inoue in Shimizu City, Shizuoka
Prefecture, Japan.